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Thousands of years ago, our ancestors knew the importance of capturing and storing rainwater, also known as rainwater harvesting. For the average homeowner, rain barrels serve this purpose today.
Advantages of rain barrels include:
- Reduce your water utility bill by using free rainwater.
- Plants, trees and flowers benefit from chlorine-free rainwater.
- Water plants, trees and flowers, and wash cars, during water bans. (If everyone used rain barrels, perhaps the ban would not be necessary.)
- Recycles plastic barrels, including those used for food transportation and storage.
Warning: don’t drink rainwater unless you filter it! Rainwater can contain contaminants originating from your roof or gutter.
There is no major manufacturer of rain barrels. Instead, there are many small companies making them; find here a list of manufacturers who sell online, and environmental-product online stores which sell rain barrels. In the US and Canada, some local governments provide rain barrels at discounted prices.
We found two excellent videos on rain barrel installation. The first is produced by the “This Old House” television show (the downspout diverter seen in this video is from GardenWaterSaver.com). The second video is produced by SmellLikeDirt.com (reproduced on YouTube.com).
More in-depth information about rainwater harvesting is found at HarvestH2O.com.
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